Recent data on refuse and urban population growth has revealed that energy that is generated from garbage could work to power up to 40 million homes in Africa by the year 2025. Researchers investigated Africa’s urban solid waste from incineration and methane produced from various landfills and measured their total energy potential. The journal, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, recently published the study last month.

Fabio Monforti-Ferrario, the author of the study, stated, "Our analysis shows that waste, and in particular municipal solid waste, is a renewable energy resource that could provide a meaningful share of both gross energy consumption and electricity on the African continent."

The study shows that over 62.5 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity could have been produced by garbage from urban areas in 2012 if the garbage had been used in waste-powered plants. Doing this could increase 122.2 TWh in 2025 as these plants become more efficiently run and more common throughout the region.